This is a beautifully shot and produced DVD, which will be candy to anyone interested in the history of fly fishing and of Hardy in particular. It's slow paced in a very good way, and takes its time to listen to the interview subjects and dwell on footage and images from way back.

The DVD revolves around a number of interviews with people from Hardy - from staff on the floor to the management and members of the Hardy family. Most of us know the basic history of Hardy, starting out as the maker of high quality fishing gear, all hand made and in most cases very innovative and original. The DVD tells the much longer and more detailed version of this story, and also takes us into the not quite as glorious part of the history of this landmark company in fly fishing history.

We hear the stories told by the people who were there. The workers, the management and the family, and each person makes the story deeper and makes me respect what Hardy did as a fishing tackle developer and a manufacturer. And it makes me wonder about a time where dozens if not hundreds of people where employed to machine and assemble fly reels, glue and wrap rods and tie flies. All in what seems to be small rooms with low ceilings and lots of dust and dirt.

And they seemed to love it!

No one seems to speak badly about their time at Hardy. Some will remember colleagues or managers as firm or silent, but none will speak badly about them or the company. It might be an editing thing, but it seems more to me like respect. Even during Hardy's worse periods, people seemed to have respect for the brand and the products, and this footage catches both the ups and the downs in interviews and in documentary style, skillfully mixed and in a very soothing and gentle pace, yet spellbinding you to the end.

The DVD is in a class by itself when it comes to fly fishing history and documentaries. Global class and warmly recommended.

Unfortunately there's a single sour grape in the bunch, because at one point I turned on the Danish subtitles. The DVD is subtitled in English, French, German, Japanese and Danish. The Danish translation resembles Danish, but is just plain terrible, miserably written and spelled with lots of typos and misunderstood terms and concepts. Now, I know only very few of you will need Danish texts. Try to avoid them. I haven't spent time judging whether the other languages are equally bad. I hope not, but I won't let this little slip mar an otherwise excellent production.

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